1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in cookware. In particular, the present invention relates to insulated cookware for reducing inadvertent overcooking of food.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cooking time is often quite critical when preparing foods, and overcooking may be very detrimental to the final quality of the cooked food. This problem is particularly prevalent in the baking of foods in an oven, or the like, wherein over-baking may substantially ruin the food. For example, cookies will burn relatively quickly if permitted to stay in the oven longer than the prescribed time, although they may also be underdone if removed from the oven prematurely. In addition, there is often a wide variation in the way different ovens cook because some ovens are apparently “hotter” than other ovens, even though the temperature controls are at the same temperature setting. As a result, there is sometimes very little tolerance in the baking time for many foods.
Insulated cooking utensils, such as cookie sheets and cake pans, have been developed in the past to alleviate or at least reduce the critical baking time during common baking procedures. Such insulated cooking utensils are typically constructed of upper and lower sheets of planar material secured together at their outer peripheries with an insulating air chamber formed between the sheets. These insulated cooking utensils have become very popular and widely available in the marketplace. Examples of these prior art insulated cooking utensils are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,489,852 and 4,595,120.
The insulated cooking utensils described above are typically made of aluminum sheet material, which is normally manufactured to have a dull satin sheen on both sides. However, the cooking utensils can also be made of stainless steel or coated carbon steel sheet material. In one commercial embodiment, an insulated cooking utensil having the above-described construction was formed of aluminum material with a gold anodized coating on the cooking surface. These various materials of construction and surface finishes have provided different cooking performance characteristics for the insulated cooking ware. However, there remains a need in the industry for improvements in the construction and surface finish characteristics of insulated cooking ware.